Arsenal, Chelsea & Man Utd Showing Interest In Brazilian Striker

The opening of the summer transfer window is fast approaching so we’ll bring you all the latest transfer rumours and gossip from around the globe. Today, the race hots up for Gabriel Barbosa….

Premier League heavy-weights Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United are all tracking Brazil’s latest wonderkid Gabriel Barbosa, according to a report in the Mirror.

Barbosa has emerged as one of Brazil’s hottest properties in recent years and has been dubbed as the ‘next Neymar’ in his homeland since breaking in to the Santos first team in 2013.

Like the Barcelona super-star, Barbosa has progressing through the youth ranks at Santos and is now a full Brazilian international – scoring on his full debut during a 2-0 win over Panama last weekend.

The 19-year-old has scored an impressive 50 goals in his 150 appearances for Santos and is being tipped to shine at this summers Copa America after being named in Dunga’s senior squad.

It appears Barbosa has been attracting interest from clubs all over Europe and the Mirror claim that Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United are among the clubs who’ve been keeping a close eye on his progress.

Barbosa is predominantly a left-sided forward but he’s capable of playing anywhere across the attacking positions or through the middle so his versatility is sure to appeal to managers such as Arsene Wenger, Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte.

There is no indication in the newspaper as to how much Santos will demand to sell the talented attacker but if any of the trio do end up buying Barbosa, they may struggle to get a work permit as he doesn’t meet the required criteria.

Therefore, the teenager would need to be sent out on loan for a couple of years in order to gain a European passport before he’d be eligible to start his career in the Premier League.

We’ll have to wait and see whether any of Arsenal, Chelsea or United decide to make their interest formal but Barbosa is certainly an exciting talent who looks to have a bright future ahead of him, so it will be interesting to see where he ends up if he does leave Santos.

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